Shakespeare's 1st Sonnet (Hardcore Analysis) (Patreon)

We're starting a special project that is very near and dear to my heart - a deep analysis of every single one of Shakespeare's sonnets. 

And, with it, a challenge: attempt to possess each and every sonnet by memory.

Or at least enjoy chanting them aloud and unlocking their life-giving power.

Sonnet I

From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.

Questions:

• Does this poem give you pleasure?
• If so, what kind and in what degree?
• What do you know about the speaker? The addressee?

Happy sonneteering, Hardcore Literature crew!

Let me know any thoughts you have - phrases you liked, images you disliked, sentiments that persuaded you or enraged you. There's no such thing as a silly or unimportant comment!